Southern University was conceived in 1879 by P.B.S. Pinchlock and created in 1880 by the Louisiana General Assembly. The original campus for Southern University was located in New Orleans on famed St. Charles Street. Southern University held its first classes on March 7, 1881 with five teachers instructing a dozen students. The school's basic curriculum of math and science courses expanded into agricultural and mechanical studies when Southern University became a land grant university in 1890.
The first president of Southern University was A.R. Gourrier in 1881. The university's most prominent presidents were Dr. Joseph Samuel Clark and his son Dr. Felton G. Clark. Dr. Joseph Samuel Clark presided over Southern University from 1914 and 1938, coordinating the school's move from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Dr. Felton G. Clark led Southern University from 1938 to 1961 and helped expand enrollment from a few hundred students to 10,000 by the time he left office.
As applications to Southern University at Baton Rouge grew after World War II, other campuses sprang up in Louisiana under the Southern University name. Southern University at New Orleans opened its doors in 1956 while the Shreveport branch of the school was founded in 1964. The state of Louisiana created the Southern University System in 1974 to coordinate curricula and finances between the three campuses. The system added the Southern University Law Center and the Agricultural Research and Extension Center after 1974.
Southern University at Baton Rouge has an all-star group of alumni working in sports and entertainment in 2009. The school has an active music program that graduated American Idol judge and former Journey bassist Randy Jackson along with jazz musician Branford Marsalis. The Southern University Jaguars baseball team has yielded MLB players like Lou Brock and Rickie Weeks. The university's athletic department has maintained strong roots with alumni Avery Johnson, a former NBA player and ESPN basketball analyst.
The African American Heritage Trail operated by the Louisiana Office of Tourism lists Southern University's campus in its itinerary including the Museum of Art. The Southern University Museum of Art houses over 300 masks, statues and other relics of African history donated to the school since its founding. The museum has a tragic history with student activists Leonard Brown and Denver Smith shot to death outside of its doors during a protest on November 16, 1972. The perpetrator of the Southern University shootings was never brought to justice.